The Memory of Falling Snow
by Angel Of AnimeXOXO
Summary: It’s the middle of winter and everyone in the Tendo household seems depressed, even Kasumi. Especially Akane, who leaves for her room after lunch, thinking he did something wrong Ranma follows her and finds out why every one is so sad.


The Memory of Falling Snow  
  
By Angel of Anime *****  
  
Disclaimer: The characters in this story do not belong to me, they are sole property of the brilliant Rumiko Takahashi and Viz. I only borrowed the characters I hope you enjoy the story.  
  
*****  
  
It was the middle of winter, just a few days after Christmas. Kasumi was already hustling around with the preparations for New Years. It was so long ago but it felt like it had only happened yesterday. The pain that ebbed at her heart every day was now a throbbing sensation in her chest. Akane walked over to her desk, and in the very back of the bottom drawer she found the tattered old shoebox. Akane pulled out the container and sat in a corner of the room to open it. Her sisters didn't know she had this, and her dad certainly had no idea. It was her little secret, the secret that only she knew. She slowly, tenderly lifted the worn lid off the box. She had kept her treasures in this ever since she was a little girl. She pushed aside the flower petal she wore in her hair during the duel against the "Golden Pair of Martial Arts Skating", she slowly sifted through the miscellaneous trinkets she had saved as mementos from all of their-. her adventures. There was a scrap of cloth from the dress she wore on prince Tomo's island, the dragon whisker she found in Shampoo's kitchen before she was able to make the porridge, and the little picture of Ranma she had stolen from Kodachi. She hated to admit it, but he really was handsome. A girl could get lost in those steel blue eyes of his; his smiling face so warm and friendly looking back at her. Sigh *If only we could get along* She continued to shuffle through all the little memories until she found what she was looking for. She gingerly lifted the small picture frame from the bottom of the box. As Akane gazed into the picture she could feel a tear spring to her eye, threatening to spill down her cheek. This was a tear of true sadness, not of anger or embarrassment like she had cried so many times before, all because of him, and. all for him. No, this was a true tear, one that had been welling up in her eye for almost six years now. *It was a snowy day just like this one when, it happened.*  
  
"Akane- chan! Dinner!"  
  
"Coming Kasumi!" Akane slowly put the picture back in the box and replaced it in the back of her drawer again, for next time when she needed comfort. Slowly she trudged down stairs, the tear on her cheek falling as she walked leaving one silvery streak running down her cheek, slowly fading into oblivion.  
  
*****  
  
*I wonder what that was a picture of.* Ranma had seen how everyone had been so sad today. He had watched Akane trudge up to her room after lunch with a depressed look on her face. Thinking that he had done something wrong (because it seemed that he was always the cause for Akane's grief) he had followed her in an attempt to find out what he had done.  
  
Ranma quietly slipped into Akane's room and closed the window behind him. He went over to the desk in the middle of the room and slowly opened the bottom drawer and took out the box. He smiled slightly at the rose petal and the piece of cloth, remembering all of the adventures that they-. he had had. He blushed slightly when he found the picture of himself. *I always liked that picture.*  
  
Then he found what he was looking for, it was in the very bottom of the box. The picture was in a small wooden frame that looked as if it had seen better years. The picture was of a young Soun, maybe only thirty, standing next to him was a smiling Kasumi who appeared to be only around six years old, next to her was Nibiki who must have been about four and then there was someone he didn't recognize. It was a beautiful dark brown haired woman with beautiful brown eyes, just like Akane's. She was slender and dainty; she looked like a china doll, like she would break if you dared to touch her. Then there was also something about her, something else. Maybe it was her smile, or the look in her eyes, but somehow she looked so familiar. Yes, he had seen her somewhere, somewhere. she looked just like Akane! Yes! That was it! She was the very image of her, just older and of a slightly smaller build. *This must be what everyone is so sad about! I knew that she was dead, but I didn't know.* The woman was holding a little girl on her lap. The little girl had short hair and the biggest grin on her face Ranma had ever seen. *This must be Mrs. Tendo. She really was beautiful* Ranma took the little picture and stuffed it into his pocket and replaced the box. With that he hoped out the window.  
  
*****  
  
Sigh *I don't think I have ever been this exhausted. I can't wait to crawl into-*  
  
"Akane?"  
  
"Oh, Ranma I didn't see you there. What's up?"  
  
"I'm sorry Akane."  
  
"N-Nani?" Ranma had never apologized, even when he did do something wrong.  
  
"I said I'm sorry."  
  
"I heard you. I was just surprised. I mean you didn't even do anything wr-" That's when Akane spied the little picture frame in Ranma's hands.  
  
"Wha, what. what are you doing with that?!" Akane could feel her battle aura surround her, her fists clenched as she stood in the hall waiting for Ranma's pitiful excuse before she punted him into next week for going through her room.  
  
"I followed you up to your room after lunch cuz I thought I did something to make you sad, then I saw you looking at this, so I had to see and I."  
  
"You. you went into my room!" Just as Akane was about to yell Ranma did something that shocked Akane to her core, he walked right up to her and hugged her. *He's so. warm!* Akane stood there for what seemed an eternity, in utter shock. *I can't stand being so mean to him all the time! Why is he doing this? I thought he hated me!*Akane hugged Ranma back and cried into his red Chinese shirt, hanging on for dear life. This was just what she needed, just to cry it out, she just needed that little bit of comfort.  
  
"I'm so sorry Akane," He hugged her to his chest; he could hear soft sobs emanating from her trembling form and he suddenly felt her tears slightly wetting his shirt.  
  
"I. I . I miss her so much!" Akane managed to choke in between sobs.  
  
"I know, I know" The two stood there a while, just hugging each other, tears welling in Ranma's eyes as he hugged his fiancée to his chest, both never wanting to let go, clinging to each other silently in the middle of the hall.  
  
*****  
  
Just then Nibiki happened to walk up to her room, she saw the two and silently snapped a picture and quickly slipped into her room. Nibiki immediately went to work developing the film she had taken that day.  
  
*****  
  
Out in the hall Akane's sobs were slowly subsiding. The two slowly pulled apart and looked into each other's eyes.  
  
"Domo Arigato Ranma, I really needed that."  
  
Ranma slowly reached up and absently wiped a tear from Akane's cheek and looked deeply into those big brown eyes of hers.  
  
"You have her eyes."  
  
"Really?"  
  
"Yeah, oyasumi- nasai Akane."  
  
"Oyasumi Ranma." With that Ranma handed Akane the small picture frame and turned to walk to his bedroom, glancing back once to flash Akane one of his knee-weakening smiles, only to get one of her heart-melting ones back. Then the two went to bed, relived and content for one of the first times in a long while.  
  
*****  
  
Nibiki stayed up all night developing her film and as the sun slowly peaked over the horizon she sat back with a content smile on her face, glad to finally be finished. "Tis a far, far better thing I do, then I have ever done before." *Oh kami! I sound like Kuno- chan! Scary!* Nibiki shuttered as she slowly took the two pictures off the line she had been drying them on and slipped out of the room. Using all the stealth she had accumulated from all her years of sneaking up upon people she snuck into Akane's room and laid a picture on her desk, then sneaked off to Ranma's room and left a picture next to his bed.  
  
*****  
  
"Wow I slept like a log!" Suddenly the memory of last night flooded back to her. Blushing slightly and grinning even more Akane walked over to her desk to look at the picture in the wooden frame she had set there last night. That's when she saw the picture. It was face down on her desk with the words "The memory of falling snow, six years after death." written on the back in Nibiki's handwriting. Akane slowly turned over the picture to take a look and saw Ranma and her in each other's arms standing in the hall. Now blushing and grinning even more Akane slipped the picture into her shoebox and went downstairs for breakfast slowly glancing back once to smile at the picture on her desk.  
  
"Happy Anniversary, okasan."  
  
*****  
  
Ok that's it peoples, hope you liked it. This was a nice one to write, waffy and a little sad at the same time. Sigh. Well if you have comments, criticism, please review, thanx!  
  
Wow, I remember writing this, we were on our bi weekly road trip to Canada and it was snowing so I wipped out the laptop and wrote this one up. This was my first ever Ranma fanfic, the second fanfic I ever did (the first was a round robin, so I guess this was my first offocial. I like it, if ya don't that's ur prob! Thaks for reading!  
  
-Angel of Anime 


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